Transported - Edinburgh's Political Martyrs

Last summer I visited for the first time the Old Carlton Burial Ground in Edinburgh  and took the  atmospheric photograph below  as rain clouds were gathering at midday.  Dominating the Burial Ground was  this striking  obelisk commemorating five Political Martyrs who were transported in to Botany Bay in Australia for crimes of sedition. 

Despite my  interest in history and politics, their names were new to me, and I set out to discover more.   

The foundation stone of the 90 foot obelisk was laid  on 21 August 1844, with 3,000 people gathered for the occasion.  It is inscribed 

To the Memory of
Thomas Muir
Thomas Fyshe Palmer
William Skirving
Maurice Margarot 
Joseph Gerrald 

Erected by the Friends of Parliamentary Reform in England and Scotland 1844.  

Also featured are  two quotations  from men commemorated on the monument

• Speech of Thomas Muir in the Court of Judiciary on the 30th August 1793:

"I have devoted myself to the cause of The People. It is a good cause —
it shall ultimately prevail — it shall finally triumph." 

• Speech of William Skirging in the Court of Judiciary on 7th January 1894:
  
  
  "I know that what has been done these two days will be Re-judged".

The Political Martyrs were early campaigners for  universal suffrage  and were charged with treason and sedition for writing and publishing pamphlets on parliamentary reform and for   corresponding with the French (at the time of the French Revolution) and with the rebel group United Irishmen in Ireland.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Muir_of_Huntershill]

Thomas Muir, their leader, has since been described as the "Founder of Scottish Democracy", but is little  known in his own country.  He grew up at Bishopbriggs near Glasgow and  became an advocate at the young age of 22,  quickly acquiring a reputation as a man of principle. He  was instrumental in encouraging the establishment of parliamentary reform societies in Scotland.  This culminated in 1792, when,  with  William Skirving, a Fife farmer, he founded the Scottish Association of the Friends of the People to campaign for parliamentary reform.   Over 150 delegates representing 150 societies from 35 towns and villages attended  the first convention,.

But  in the aftermath of the American and French Revolutions, Muir's activities. which included a visit to France,  were  increasingly regarded as a threat to public order.  The five men were accused of sedition in a series of trials and transported to Australia  in  1794 and 1795, with varying sentences.  

At his trial, Thomas Muir asked:

“What has been my crime? … for having dared to be a strenuous and active advocate for an equal representation of the people, in the House of the people.”

 
The men were transported on the convict ship "Surprise" for the 13,000 mile journey to Botany Bay - as recorded  in Australian Convict Transportation Registers.  

Once in the penal colony, they were given, as political prisoners,  far greater freedom of movement than ordinary convicts.  In 1796 Gerrald died from tuberculosis and Skirving from dysentery. Fyshe Palmer and Margarot survived their sentences of 14 years but Fyshe Palmer died of fever while attempting a trading voyage back to England. Only Margarot returned to Great Britain. 

Muir,  escaped on an American ship, but had some disastrous experiences before finally making his way to revolutionary France. He took part in revolutionary intrigue but died in 1799 of illness and injuries received in his travels to France.  

The  significance of the five Scottish martyrs in advancing the cause of democracy is little known, but Muir is remembered in:  

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• Australian Dictionary of Biography
• Thomas Muir Heritage Trail which links places in Dunbartonshire  connected with his life and work.
• The ideals of the Political Martyrs lived on and the Reform Act of 1832 marked the fist step towards universal suffrage.
• The men were pardoned in 1839 with the Edinburgh Monument erected some 50 years after their stance. 
• In 1793 Robert Burns penned "Scots Whae Hae", believed to have been inspired by Thomas Muir and his radical colleagues.  

The Old Calton Burial Ground commemorates other fighters for political freedom. 

A view (left)  from, the burial ground up to the  turreted Governor's House - the only remains of the notorious Old Calton Jail.  It   received its first prisoners in 1817 and was closed in 1925.

In 1913 three women suffragettes  were sent to Calton Jail from the Scottish Borders having been found guilty of attempting to destroy the new stand at Kelso Racecourse - events well reported in the local press. They were sentenced to nine  months' imprisonment  However they were liberated within a week having gone on hunger strike.  The terms of their temporary release  stated that they must return after a stipulated number of days - an instance of the infamous "cat and mouse"  policy.

Did you know that, thought to be the only monument to the American Civil War outside the USA,  is in Edinburgh?  

 It was erected in 1898 in memory of the Scottish soldiers who fought  in the American Civil War on the side of the Union.   It features a freed slave and   one of Lincoln’s famous quotations "To preserve the jewel of liberty in the framework of freedom". A bronze shield bears the old US flag, and is wreathed in thistles to the left, and cotton to the right to signify the two countries. 

If you think you may have ancestors buried in Old Calton Burial Ground, Edinburgh,  there is an excellent  website listing all the names - click HERE to find out more. 

[Developed from a August 2013 posting on my personal blog at Family History Fun]

Copyright © 2014 · Susan Donaldson.

Did your ancestors play a sport?

As I am watching the quarter finals of the World Cup Soccer, where the Netherlands is fighting to stay in the competition, I am wondering if sports played a part in the life of my ancestors. For most of them, sports would have been a luxury that they could not afford.

ADO-Telstar, 1965. Image credits: Nationaal Archief

However, I think a lot of our ancestors were involved in activities like archery, skating and clay pigeon shooting. Those activities were like sports in the sense that they exercised the body and had a competition element. But unlike sports, the goal wasn't simply recreation, but to develop skills necessary to work well and protect yourself.

Where to find evidence of your ancestors sports

Most of our ancestors' athletic achievements, if any, would have gone unreported. Towards the end of the 19th century, sports become organized, especially in the higher levels of society. You may be able to find archives of organizations like soccer clubs, archery societies and tennis clubs. Newspaper begin to report about matches in the 19th century as well.

For earlier periods, you may be lucky and find evidence in court records. Like today, competitions can lead to tension among the competitors and their fans, which may lead to injuries and court cases.
The closest thing I've found was an ancestor who testified about a quarrel between German and Dutch farmers after a friendly clay pigeon shooting match turned less friendly. They got into a fight. In the end, the Dutch had to promise to bring a keg of beer next year and that was the end of the story.

Your own ancestors

Do you have ancestors that played sports? Where did you find that evidence? 

Independence Day - Happy Birthday USA!

Image courtesy of  FreeDigitalPhotos.net ID-10042229

This month's topic for Worldwide Genealogy was an easy choice for me since my posts appear on the 4th of each month. I am a citizen of the USA and July 4th is a big day for us - it is our birthday - the USA turns 238 today. 

We celebrate on a grand scale - it is a federal holiday and there are events all weekend at the Mall in Washington, D.C., at Liberty Hall in Philadelphia, at the Charlestown Navy Yard and Harbor in Boston, and in most major cities. The day's events often culminate with a concert and fireworks display (two of the most famous - the Boston Pops and the Capitol Fourth - are shown live on television). We celebrate on a local scale with parades, festivals, rodeos, revolutionary war-era reenactments, baseball games, classic movies, scavenger hunts, concerts, picnics, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, family reunions, political speeches and ceremonies, and local and individual fireworks displays. 

But what exactly are we celebrating? We commemorate July 4, 1776 as the date when a small band of the men finished the work of writing, arguing, persuading, rewriting, and finally encouraging each other to come to agreement on a 1,337 word document that took a stand and told their sovereign king "thanks but no thanks - we have had enough, you don't listen, you don't respect us, you don't treat us right - we don't want to work it out, we want to break up (oh, and it is you, not us!)." 

And so began the long, hard struggle for independence. Although Great Britain's heavy-handed actions (unfair taxes as well as refusing to allow real representation or self-governing) had brought matters to a political standoff between the British government and the colonists, it is one thing to complain - and quite another thing to act on it. In fact we now know that many of the colonists thought the British government would understand the seriousness of their position and finally work out more reasonable governance. However, the colonists found out that Great Britain had no intention of listening to them and no interest in walking away from their investment in land and resources, and so that final break was made. Since the winners get to write history, that little matter of treason is often forgotten. But it is important to understand what our forefathers said and wrote, what they were willing to fight and die for, and what they wanted their fellow countrymen to embrace. 

Today many focus on the Declaration as being about individuals and recall only 7 words "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" to the exclusion of the other 1,330 words. But a serious reading of the Declaration shows the larger and true meaning of this document. Today is the perfect day for Americans and those all around the world to read the expertly crafted Declaration of Independence in its entirety and put all the words in context. The Declaration has a conclusion (read the last sentence first) with supporting arguments for that conclusion (the rest of the document). The Declaration is about working together to form something bigger than ourselves and our self-interests. All Americans should put Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality by Danielle Allen on their summer reading list. She provides some food for thought and an opportunity to gain a better understanding of this important document. 

Our form of government has never been an easy thing. It took the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Civil War, and the Civil Rights Acts to work at getting it right. And that never-ending process continues today. The Declaration and the Constitution are blueprints for where we have been, how we see ourselves (our aspiration or ideals), and how we plan to achieve our ideals. The hard work is in embracing and living up to our ideals not only on July 4th but every day. 

Happy Birthday USA - thanks to the men and women
who have done the difficult work
throughout our history!
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net ID-10042231

Payback

I don't know about you but I have found the Famlysearch website (and before that the IGI microfiche) most useful resources for my family history research. I have used theses resources provided freely and generously by The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) over many years. I have also made use of the Famlysearch Centres in both London and Salt Lake City.

When I was at Rootstech in 2012 there was a big drive by Familysearch (an initiative of the LDS) to find volunteers to index the 1940 US Census that was due to be released in April that year. I considered signing up to be an indexer but because my keyboarding skills are so woeful I did not  join.

Last week I tuned into DearMyrtle's Wacky Wednesday Hangout on Air to find that the topic was Familysearch Indexing. During the program Myrt demonstrated how to log in to Familysearch, sign up for indexing, download the indexing software, set it up, do some indexing and upload your work. It didn't look too difficult at all and there is lots of online support for indexers. After watching the demonstration I thought that I should have a go so I downloaded the software and joined up.

To date I have indexed  200 records in five batches of forty records each, although they have all been at Beginner Level some have been typed and easy to transcribe while others have been handwritten by people whose handwriting left a lot to be desired. I don't know that I'll ever progress to Intermediate Level! To ensure accuracy all  indexing is checked by an arbitrator, so far I have scored between 78% and 100% agreement from my arbitrated batches, I only made a couple of typos but I will try to be more careful. The lower percentages were from the batches of handwritten records I indexed. I am sure that as I get more used to reading tricky handwriting I will improve. I must also remember that quality is better than quantity, I will try to take my time.

With a large family that creates lots of ad hoc commitments I find it difficult to make a commitment to volunteering on a regular basis at a given place and time. Contributing to the Familysearch indexing project (as with doing text corrections for Trove) allows me to do some volunteering say thankyou in some small way to Familysearch for al the information they have given me over the years.

I am looking forward to July 20 and 21 when Familysearch is holding a Worldwide  Indexing Event for old and new indexers to break the record set in 2012 when 49,025 indexers  and arbitrators joined together to index records.

Will you be joining me at the Worldwide  Indexing Event?

Am I Defined by One Action?

As family historians we want to tell the story of our ancestors, to bring them to life and to add personality to the names and dates and this is a laudable desire.

Potential issues can arise in the telling of the story. There was a discussion last year (September 19) around a question posed by Thomas MacEntee on the "Right to Do Genealogy" . The question was "what right did we have to do genealogy and share and publicise people's secrets"

After a lot of discussion among the genealogy online world the general idea was we had the right to do the research but we also had an ethical obligation "to do no harm".

In more modern times we have access to quite a lot of information about people, often from multiple sources, some within people's memory so it becomes a lot easier to write a story of the person showing all aspects of them.

Further back in time we see our ancestors via the records that are left, the vital record, the court case or the newspaper report. Often this is only a snapshot in time.

Do I write the military stories of my soldiers: who fought at Gallipoli and survived,  who fought on the Western Front for a time period and was wounded, the soldier who was sent back to to the Front but to different unit to the one he left, the soldier who was found in the house of ill-repute, the soldier who spent three years in a military prison.

Each of these is a good story worth telling. 


However they are definitely better told as the whole story. Each of these snapshots in time relate to just one soldier's experience of a long, long war and together make a whole.

Should I tell the story of the woman who was arrested for neglecting her child while being under the influence of alcohol? 

Do I instead tell the story of the woman who had received the news that her husband and her son had both been killed on the same day? That bit did not get into the news when the temperance paper reported the arrest six weeks later.

Today we know that sensational news sells papers,  good news stories rarely make it into print. 


Do we really think times have changed and that the past was any different? It is often said the winning side writes history.

So do you write the snapshot in time which may only show one facet of a person? Is that ethical? How do you decide what to write? What do you do?




 

Just "Google It"

By:  Tina Marie

Sometimes the simplest research strategy can surprise you by providing a lead to a wealth of helpful information.  A few weeks ago, I decided to Google the name of one of my husband’s ancestors.  I chose his maternal 3x great-grandfather William Thompson because he was a Civil War veteran who we knew very little about.  Since his name was so common, I figured after I Google'd him there would be numerous resources that would have to be sorted through before I found the correct William Thompson.  That proved to be untrue.

June 14th early Saturday morning, I Google'd “William Thompson Civil War 29^th Colored Regiment” and up came 444,000 possible results.  The first resource on the list was, "Researching African-American Soldiers of the Civil War."  It was written by Michael Hait on the website Archives.com.  The article covered the history of the U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War and how to locate their military records.

As I read through the article there was no mention of a William Thompson, then about ¾ of the way through the article there was a copy of a pension file for Sarah J. Thompson.  The author had used the document as an example in the article.  Sarah was the wife of William Thompson and she was applying for her widow’s pension.  Since I did not know if this was the correct William and Sarah Thompson, I didn't do the genealogy dance, but I definitely felt the excitement brewing.

Widow's Pension application for Sarah J. Thompson

As the article suggested, I linked to the website Ancestry.com and searched for a military record for William Thompson.  I found his draft registration record, compiled military service record, casualty report, register of death, veteran grave site record, and the pension index.  I also was able to get a regiment history of his unit.  By the time I finished it was late Saturday evening and I had pieced together the life of William Thompson.

Civil War Draft Registration for William Thompson (4th from top)

William Thompson was born circa 1824 in New Brunswick, Middlesex, New Jersey.  He married Sarah Jane Mitchell on October 1, 1844, in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut.  They had six children:  Mary (b. 1844), Harriet (b. 1846), Martha (b. 1848), William A. (b. 25 Jul 1852), Ann Elizabeth (b. 8 Aug 1854), and Stephen (b. 8 Dec 1861).  Martha is my husband’s direct ancestor.  William was a free man.  He volunteered enlistment on December 22, 1863, in Company H of the 29th Regiment Connecticut Colored Volunteer Infantry.  He was a cook at the time of his enlistment.  He fought in the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm and New Market Heights in Virginia on September 29 and 30, 1864, as part of the Siege of Petersburg.  There were 3,300 Union casualties from that Battle, and 391 lost their lives.  William was listed on the casualty list as wounded on September 30, 1864.  He was treated at Ft. Monroe General Hospital in Virginia where he later died on November 26, 1864.  He was buried at Hampton National Cemetery in Hampton, Virginia.  Sarah and three of their children received a pension from the government.

I was fortunate to find out so much information about this ancestor.  Not all Google searches lead you to helpful information, but it sure was worth the try to "Google it".

29th Regiment Connecticut Colored Volunteers

Wm Thompson, Hampton National Cemetery (photo taken by Jim Adcox)

One hundred years ago

I was alerted by a blog post at Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories that one hundred years ago was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie. The assassination is widely acknowledged to be a trigger for World War I. Bill Smith states

What seemed as a minor event in Central Europe, 100 years ago today, was not even reported in many American newspapers in the US until two days later. An assassination in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina was the event.

The assassination as illustrated by Achille Beltrame of the Italian newspaper Domenica del Corriere, 12 July 1914.

The news made page 3 of the Ballarat Courier on 30 June and was widely reported throughout Australia.

CABLEGRAMS. (1914, June 30). The Ballarat Courier (Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 3 Edition: DAILY.. Retrieved June 29, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article73308399

 Some Australian newspapers, such as Perth's Daily News, reported the assassination on Monday 29 June.

From now for the next five years there will be a significant focus on World War I.

Many families, including both mine and my husband's, had young men who served in the war who were killed, and others who were injured.

As a family historian, if I come across a young man born in the 1890s, the first thing I do is check for a military record.

While the military records are useful for family historians it seems worthwhile to pause and remember the suffering represented by those records.

I am sure that as our forebears read the newspapers on 29 and 30 June 1914 they would have no idea of what that assassination might mean for them and their families.

Looking forward to August!

The end of June has arrived rather quickly, which means one more month until we hit August. August is a rather exciting month because it is National Family History Month (NFHM) in Australia! 

Woo!

I discovered National Family History Month in 2012 when it was originally a week in August. It was implemented by the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations (AFFHO) in 2006 as a week long event in August, however, was expanded to a month in 2013 (The Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations Inc, 2012). Expanding to a month allows for more participation from societies and other organisations, and also allows for greater public participation.

So what happens during NFHM? Well, events are conducted all over Australia and New Zealand that focus on genealogy and can include seminars, talks, workshops, and open days to name a few. Events can be held by genealogical and family history societies, libraries, plus many other organisations! Those that wish to hold an event can add it to the calendar on the NFHM Website. This allows everyone to see what events are being held in their relevant location. In Queensland, there are events being held in Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Gladstone, Cairns, Noosa, Moreton Bay, and Brisbane plus a few other places. If you cannot attend an event, there are many things you can do to celebrate NFHM in your own way such as going to cemeteries, visiting your local Archives, and even little things like scanning family photos and organizing your family history information. There are also online events this year. One of those online events is a Google Hangout on August 1st, which will be hosted by the lovely Jill Ball. You can also keep up to date with NFHM on the Facebook Page, which passed 1000 likes the other day by the way! Yay! This year the launch is being held in Canberra at the National Archives of Australia and should be awesome for those that attend!

I cannot end this post without acknowledging the wonderful Shauna Hicks.  I was fortunate enough to meet Shauna when I attended the launch of NFHM last year in Brisbane. She has been the sole coordinator of the National Family History Month in Australia and does a fantastic job!

Anyway, here's to an exciting National Family History Month downunder! 

Oh, if any of you wish to see the video I did about my time at the launch of NFHM last year, it is here.

I might have forgotten to post this when I arrived in Sydney last night, but better than late than never!

Until next time genea-friends.

Genealogy Resources at the Library of Virginia

The city of Richmond, Virginia, dates to the early 17^th century and has been crucial to the development of the Colony of Virginia, the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War. It became the capital of the commonwealth in 1780. The city is situated on a high hill overlooking the falls of the James River.

"Richmond, from a hill above the waterworks" circa 1834
Engraved by W J Bennett from a painting by G Cooke
Image courtesy of Wikipedia

The Library of Virginia, located in Richmond, was founded by the Virginia General Assembly in 1823. It is now the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia and is the archival and reference library for the state. It houses what many believe to be the most comprehensive collection of materials about Virginia government, history and culture. According to Wikipedia, its research collection includes “808,500 bound volumes; 678,790 public documents; 410,330 mircoforms, including 46,684 reels of microfilmed newspapers; 308,900 photographs and other pictorial materials; 101.8 million manuscript items and records; and several hundred thousand prints, broadsides and newspapers.”

Library of Virginia courtesy of the library's website

I am fortunate; I live two hours north of Richmond and have been able to make several trips to the library. I found the Visitor’s Guide to be extremely helpful in planning my first visit to an unknown library. I also called ahead and received great assistance in optimizing my research agenda. 

If you cannot visit the library in person, don’t be alarmed. Much information is available online:

• Find It Virginia is the free access to a collection of Virginia databases
• Virginia Memory includes the library’s digital collections of newspapers, prints and photographs
• Virginia Heritage – a guide to the library’s manuscripts and archival collections

I use the library mostly when doing newspaper research, but I have also found copies of old family wills that have been helpful in making relationship connections between ancestors, such as Sue Adams described in a recent post. If you have branches of your family tree that lived in Virginia,* I hope you will take time to discover the research resources available at the Library of Virginia. And don't forget to peek at the Chancery Court records. You'll find your Virginia ancestors were a litigious lot and the information in those records can provide a wealth of "color" about a person -- some even include descriptions of their character and not always in a good way.

I'm using #WWGenealogy when tweeting about this collaboration project on Twitter (@TweetTRnT).

_______________
* Don't forget Virginia was once a vast portion of what is now the United States;  records from that area that are now other states are sometimes found in the library.

The Bachelor Uncle’s Will

Although it has over a decade since I first read this will, I remember it clearly.  It was nearly closing time at Worcestershire County Record Office, so I ordered just one more document.  I had to go back for a second reading and complete copy.  If you are not descended from one of the beneficiaries, I give you permission to go green with envy. 

 

The Transcript

Page 1

1.    I William Wilson the Elder of Walton in the parish of
2.    Clent in the County of Stafford Yeoman being of sensible and disposing mind and
3.    memory (thanks be to Almighty God) do make this my last Will and Testament in
4.    manner following (that is to say) I give to my Nephew Thomas Wilson and my
5.    Niece Sarah (Wife of John Price) two of the children of my late Brother Richard Wilson
6.    deceased the Sum of twenty pounds each, I also give to the eldest Son of my late
7.    deceased Nephew Richard Wilson, who was another Son of my said late Brother
8.    Richard the sum of twenty pounds, I give to my Brother John Wilson the Sum of
9.    forty pounds, and to his Daughter Mary Wife of Mr Richard Collett twenty pounds,
10.    I give to my Nephews John Matthew William Thomas and Joseph Wilson (Sons
11.    of my late Brother Matthew Wilson deceased) the Sum of twenty pounds each, And
12.    to my Nieces Sarah (Wife of       Crowder), Mary (Wife of Edward Pratt) and
13.    Nancy (Wife of          Boraston) who are the Daughters of my late Brother
14.    Matthew Wilson the Sum of twenty pounds each, I give to my Nephew Thomas
15.    Wilson, Son of my late brother Thomas Wilson deceased, one Annuity or yearly
16.    Sum of seven pounds and sixteen shillings to be paid to him at three
17.    shillings a week, on every Monday morning during his natural Life, by my
18.    Executor herein after named into his own hands for his own sole and separate use
19.    the first of which payments to become payable on the Monday first happening
20.    after the day of my decease Provided always that in case he shall happen to sell
21.    assign or alienate such weekly payments as not to be capable of receiving the
22.    same in his own right, that the payment to any such purchasor Assignee shall
23.    not be valid, but from thenceforth the said Annuity and all further weekly
24.    payments thereof shall cease for the benefit of my Executor, I also give to the
25.    eldest son of my late nephew Richard Wilson (Son of my said late Brother
26.    Thomas Wilson deceased) the Sum of twenty pounds, I give to my Niece Susanna
27.    (Wife of Richard Wight Daughter of my late Brother Thomas) the Sum of twenty
28.    pounds to be paid into her own hands to her sole and separate use
29.    independent of her Husband his debts or Engagements and for which her
30.    receipt alone to be a good discharge, I give to my Great Nephew and Niece
31.    William and Mary (Children of my late Nephew John Wilson who was another

Page 2

1.    Son of my said late Brother Thomas) the Sum of ten pounds each, I give to the three
2.    children of my late Sister Sarah the late Wife of Edward Jinks both deceased (viz)
3.    Edward Jinks (the Son) Sarah (Wife of William Barnett) and Mary (Wife of Joseph Edwards)
4.    the Sum of twenty pounds each, And I give to my Nephew Matthew Hanbury (Son of
5.    my late Sister Mary) and my Grand Niece Catherine Hanbury (Daughter of my late
6.    Nephew John Hanbury) the Sum of twenty pounds each,  All which Legacies to be
7.    payable within twelve months next after my decease, And I direct my executor
8.    with the concurrence of the Church wardens of the said parish of Clent for the time
9.    being to pay out of my personal Estate the Sum of five pounds within one month
10.    after my decease to such poor persons resident in the said Parish, whom they
11.    shall think the greatest objects of Charity and in such proportions as they shall
12.    think proper, only that the Widows shall have double to other poor persons, And
13.    subject to the payment of my just debts funeral Expenses and the several
14.    Legacies mentioned in this my Will, which I direct shall in the first place be
15.    paid out of my personal Estate, or so far as the same will extend, and subject thereto
16.    (except the said Charity Legacy) out of my real Estate and which real Estate I
17.    hereby charge with the payment thereof accordingly, I give devise and bequeath
18.    all my Messuages lands Tenements and Heredittaments and all other my real
19.    and personal Estate whatsoever and wheresover with all and every the appurtenances
20.    unto my Nephew William Wilson of Walton aforesaid who now lives with me
21.    (another of the Sons of my late Brother Richard Wilson deceased) and to his Heirs
22.    Executors Administrators and Assigns to his and their own use and behoof
23.    forever, And I do hereby appoint the said last mentioned William Wilson sole
24.    Executor of this my Will, and I hereby revoke all former Will and Wills by me
25.    made and publish and declare this to be only true last Will and Testament. 
26.    In witness whereof I have to this my Will contained in two sheets of paper, to
27.    the first sheet put my hand, and this second and last my hand and seal
28.    and published the same the Fifteenth day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand and seven hundred and eighty eight

In addition to the main text three witnesses signed both pages:

William Waldron junior
Samuel Tonks
Thomas Burrell

William Wilson made his mark, and indication that he could not write, and the second page also carries his seal.

Finally, the will was proved and annotated by the consistory court:

7 Feb 1789
The sole executor of this Will
app[eare]d personally and was then
sworn in common form of Law
and that the personal Estate don’t   
amount to 1000 £ before me
John Griffon

Relationships

Relationships feature heavily and most are explicitly stated.  Relationships with the Hanburys are not as explicit, so my interpretation needs confirmation from other sources.  The following chart summarises the relationships:

Relationships documented in William Wilson the elder's will, 1788

William Wilson the elder, and his nephew, executor, principal beneficiary and namesake, William Wilson the younger are marked in red; other beneficiaries are marked in yellow; and people who had died before the will was made are marked in grey.

I am descended from William the elder’s nephew Thomas Wilson, son of brother Matthew.  This will, combined with other documents, provides firm evidence for this claim.  Nieces of William the elder, and daughters of Matthew have featured in blog posts: Vanishing Artifacts – the Gravestone and Silver Spoon and Wills and Location – Further Evidence supporting the Inherited Family History.

The will tells us that executor William the younger already lived at Walton in May 1788.  The gravestone shared by both Williams, discussed in Keeping it in the Family?, tells me that William the elder died on 28 January 1789.  It is very likely that William the younger married his first cousin once removed, Catherine Hanbury, 5 months later.

Other people and wider family connections documented in this will await investigation.

Money and property

Note that the £10 (2), £20 (19), £40 (1) and annuity bequests are all charged on the real estate that was devised to William the younger.  What does this mean? 

The real estate consisted of the immovable property that William the elder owned: land; buildings such as the messuages or houses; things that belong to such land and buildings, known as appurtenances; land held by tenure or tenements; and the right to inherit such property or hereditaments.

So, William the elder clearly owned property, but the will does not tell us its location, extent, or the type of tenure.  The residence at Walton in Clent is candidate, but needs confirmation from property records.

The probate annotation indicates the total value of William the elder’s estate at a maximum of £1,000 for the purpose of any taxes due.  The lump sum bequests amount to £440, a large proportion of the total estate value.  The monetary bequests were charged on the property, so William the elder’s estate did not necessarily have cash readily available to make the payments.  That is why a period of a year is specified to allow the executor to make arrangements or liquidate assets as necessary.

Comparison of monetary values from the past is confounded by economic factors, but the Measuring Worth website gives a range of indications in context.  The 2013 value of the maximum quotation of £1,000 ranges between £110 thousand and £8.37 million. 

Perhaps the easiest to understand is the 3 shilling weekly payments to the probably vulnerable nephew Thomas Wilson (son of brother Thomas).  In this context, the weekly 3 shillings annuity payments equate to £208 using the labour value (based on a wage index) or £270 using the income value (based on relative average income).  That level of income would certainly have provided for the basic needs of a single person, but not an extravagant lifestyle or a family with children. 

Other beneficiaries seem to have been trusted to manage their own affairs.  The lump sums of £20 are more appropriately thought of as an investment, so compared using the economic power value based on the share of GDP might be worth as much as £167 thousand; or compared using the economic status value, a smaller but still tidy £36 thousand.

Further Interpretation

There is a lot of information in this will.  It deserves a detailed extraction of information items similar to the example I demonstrated in the 5 part series Claverley Property Document Analysis.

I Can Testify

Wednesday, I was talking with a new genealogy researcher at the Family History Center where I work. He has never created his own data base, instead he has just gone with FamilySearch trees.  Poor baby, he got an ear full.
Never only have an online tree only, especially not a shared "world wide" tree!  To have a clear view of your family, you must have your own data base.  People are always clicking on the wrong thing.  If you don't have a data base, you might end up with someone else's Aunt Georgia.  I still find problems in my online tree that other's have added to, but I am busy sourcing so easy to pick up right now.  When picking your software for your data base, do your own research.  Try out free trial software, and choose what is right for you. Do not purchase one based on someone else's choice.  Take charge of your data base.
 When researching, whether at the library, or online, if you find information on your ancestor.  Copy it, or download it and the source right then.  Don't plan to go back.  Heads up.  The information could be gone tomorrow.  Experience...  In the past, I have copied down URL's to go back to... Not there any longer.  Pictures can be removed, if you capture a picture also capture who you got it from and give them credit if you use it, ask for permission if you are going to publish it.  Ancestry.com's changes and then their dilemma this week, for me, was another proof, things can go poof.

Books... Now this is a sad one.  People can abscond with books, even from a genealogy library shelf. Personal experience.  Went back to get more information from a book and it was GONE.  
 I am a walking talking testimony of the above.  I want others to think in terms of "I am in charge of my data for my ancestors".  I don't mind sharing a tree, and I am more than willing to change something if you can show me the source of the information. Evidence Explained  has been a wonderful help to me for this learning curve.
He thanked me for the information... No, he didn't run out the door.

Just thought I would share with everyone. J